They don't mak trailers like they use to ! (1 Viewer)

[Kristoffer]

ok today trailers are just flash images and a voice saying either ; " Now get ready! Bla bla bla...or digitally re-mastered DTS sound, Never before seen scenes yada yada...
In the old days there were much more original, almost like a short film:
These per example; Psycho, All Kubrick's ( A clockwork orange, Dr. Strangelove and The shining ) Alien, Strange days(teaser)and most recently Fight Club PA with Brad Pitt and Edward Norton. Anymore ? And most importantly recently?

 

[Nathan V]

"In a world..."

 

[Nathan V]

I thought the Matrix trailer was one of the most effective trailers in years. They were able to get a film with no stars to make $150 million, not to mention generate a huge following.

 

[Moe Maishlish]

They were able to get a film with no stars to make $150 million

I beg to differ... Keanu (whoa!) Reeves & Laurence Fishburne not stars?

Matrix did have some star power. No, it didn't have the cast of Oceans Eleven, but it did have some star-power.

Moe.

 

[ThomasC]

digitally re-mastered DTS sound, Never before seen scenes yada yada

You must be thinking of commercials for DVDs...

The teaser and trailer for Pearl Harbor will be forever etched into my mind. I never got to see the teaser in a theater, but the trailer caught me so off guard because I didn't know it was coming (back in the day when I didn't check the internet to see what big trailers would be showing before what movie), I had tears in my eyes by the time it ended. Too bad the music was only licensed for theatrical distribution.

And to follow up on Nathan's comment...

"One man, one way..."

 

[Neil Joseph]

This is one of the reasons I liked the Dinosaur trailer so much when it came out.

 

[Jason Seaver]

"In a world..."

How prevelant is that, really? I swear I've seen more parodies of it than I have seen actual uses.

One thing that always gets me is the trailers for foreign films that try to disguise the fact that the characters aren't speaking English. I always half-expect someone to come barrelling out of Brotherhood Of The Wolf yelling that they want their money back, because no-one told them that there'd be reading involved.

 

[JayV]

Reminds me of the hilarious Comedian trailer (http://www.apple.com/trailers/miramax/comedian.html).

In a world where everything you know is wrong...

-j

 

[Jason Harbaugh]

The teaser for Lethal Weapon 4 was basically a short cut of the opening scene. Very funny and packed with action. The Dinosaur trailer was something to behold. They've done similar things with Finding Nemo. The first trailer was just a scene.

 

[Michael Reuben]

In the old days there were much more original, almost like a short film

Some of us don't consider 1995 (Strange Days) and 1999 (Fight Club) to be "the old days".

The truth is that most trailers are cut to one or more prevailing marketing formulas that are in vogue at the time, and every so often somebody does something different. It's been that way for decades, and I'm sure it will continue.

If you want to see a great example of a formula trailer from "the old days", check out the Criterion DVD of All That Heaven Allows.

M.

 

[Alex Spindler]

Great new trailers (note, may be totally independent of the quality of the film itself):
The Ring - especially the teaser. The close of the test-tone scream is indelible.
Ice Age - teaser
Fight Club
The Fast and the Furious - especially the one with the only real dialog being Vin Diesel saying "Let's go for a ride".
Star Wars : Episode 1 - Especially the A trailer
Dreamcatcher - the initial teaser. Great flashes of scenes with the ending words of "show you you things you've never seen". Goosebumps.
The Matrix - Doesn't give away all of the greatest effects.

Those are the ones that came to mind immediately

 

[Kevin M]

"OOOWWW....I FEEL GOOD....."

 

[Holadem]

No, they don't make'em like they used to, they are much better now!

To each his/her own but geez, even trailers were better in the old days?

I love trailers, but I can't stand the old ones, way to cheesy for me. Trailers today are really imaginative if often very deceptive. Some of them are stuningly bad compared to the actual movies (We Were Soldiers, Fight Club) but most of them are good IMO.

Some styles are getting old though: The ones (usually suspense/horror movies) where toward the end you get quick cuts accompanied by percussion heavy music, followed by a silence, then BLAM very loud noise/screaming/explosion/cheesy line/whatever the heck right before the "credits".

Some favs of mine:
The Sixth Sense - scared the bejesus out of me everytime I saw it: The "she is standing next to my window" line, followed by this tingling sound/music as the screen fades to black and the studio names are shown.

LOTR:FOTR and TTT 'nuff said.

Mask of Zorro teaser and trailer.

The Perfect Storm teaser - who could forget that wave?

Godzilla - If only the movie had been 1/10th as good as the trailer...

--
Holadem

 

[Seth Paxton]

How prevelant is that, really? I swear I've seen more parodies of it than I have seen actual uses.

Actually I hear it in maybe 1 out of every 4 I would guess. The thing is that the copy is read so that it flows right in.

Another "classic"..."When a man who..." or some variation on that.

I love having trailers as DVD extras, you really get to see drastic changes in the approach. I generally prefer ANY trailer that doesn't feature the "voice over story explanation". What, the film can't see itself? Show the freaking scenes already. You can cut it so that the film's story isn't given away quite easily.

Again, if the film can't sell itself I start to worry. We should do a trailer challenge/tourney or something. Rather than go from memory I mean, we should pop in the DVDs and just watch a shitload of trailers for the fun of this type of discussion.

 

[Matt Pelham]

I absolutely love the Vanilla Sky trailer.

 

[John_Lee]

Some of us don't consider 1995 (Strange Days) and 1999 (Fight Club) to be "the old days".

Consider also 'The Lion King' [1994], and 'Magnolia' [1999].

 

[Wayne Bundrick]

And how many times are we going to hear old rock & roll songs borrowed for a movie trailer?

Two examples I've heard used too many times:
"Baba O'Reilly" and "The Boys Are Back In Town"

I also can't stand it when a trailer uses music from another movie and I recognize it.

 

[George_W_K]

The thing I don't like about a lot of the trailers, is how they seem to show the entire movie. "How To Lose a Guy In 10 Days" is a good example of this. Maybe I am wrong. I didn't bother to see the movie, I figured saw the whole thing during the trailer. I like when they show the teasers the best. "The Hulk" had an excellent teaser, IMO. Going back a few years, I loved "Independence Day"'s teaser. I never even heard of the movie before and when I saw the White House break apart into tiny little pieces, I HAD TO SEE THAT MOVIE! Thankfully, I never saw the trailer for it until after I saw the movie, I think it would have ruined some of it for me. I personnally like to go into a movie not knowing what to expect too much. This is all an opinion, of course.

One last thing I hate about trailers are the ones for comedies. They usually show all of the best jokes and by the time you actually see the movie, those scenes are really old.

Ok, that's my 2 cents!

 

[Jason Adams]

A good "now" trailer is the Panic Room teaser. That creepy female voice-over and that atmospheric music...I just HAD to see that movie. And now I own the DVD.

 

[EricW]

i think in the old days (3 years ago) trailers gave you an extensive explanation of the movie's setup (the first 3rd) and then hinted at the resolution. now, they just tell you everything.

my fave trailers of all time:
-strange days
-the big hit
-three kings
-sleepy hollow
-snatch
-saving private ryan (reissue)
-romeo must die
-phenomenon